There has been plenty about the human cost of immigration raids, and that cost, for sure, is by far the most important. However, the current U.S. policy toward immigration is also detrimental economically in several ways. Were the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants in this country to be deported, our economy would greatly suffer and might literally collapse.
The Workforce
That’s because most of that 12 million makes up a vital part of our country’s workforce. In the state of Colorado, when new, harsher immigration laws and background check laws targetted Latinos in general and illegal immigrants specifically, most of them left the state. Colorado, a mainly agricultural state, was left without much of a labor pool to work in the agricultural sector. They have had to release prison inmates to work programs in order to do the agricultural work once done by migrant laborers (apparently, the only jobs immigrants have been stealing are those belonging to criminals). That means that criminals are now working in fields on family farms, with families, children included, on the same land. Does this seem safe to you? Not me.
Oh, and just to get this out of the way, immigrants don’t depress wages, either. [Source]
Consumers
Small towns that have been targeted by ICE raids have also been watching their local economies slowly collapse. Most people forget that, in addition to filling necessary jobs, immigrants also patronize local businesses. They have to purchase groceries, meals, clothing, cigarettes, shoes and other necessities just like everyone else. And while an individual may not purchase much on his or her own, think of what the loss of 12 million breakfasts, lunches and dinners a day, 12 million rent checks every month, 12 million pairs of shoes and jeans every six months, etc. would do to our economy.
Take Mendota, Calif., for example. Mendota, a town where 95% of the residents are Latino, was the target of an ICE “fugitive operation” in which they arrested most of the town’s undocumented immigrant population and scared the rest into hiding or leaving. Because Mendota is a tiny agricultural town, this took away a sizeable chunk of the town’s population. Residents describe it as a “ghost town” now. Additionally, due to ICE harrassment of Latinos, many of the town’s U.S. citizens and documented immigrants are terrified, and frightened people don’t buy iPods, they save their money in case they need it for a lawyer or something.
In a town where every corner market, taco truck, or bar usually has a sizeable crowd of people hanging out in front, Mendota seemed like a ghost town the week after the ICE intrusion. At the same time, the town was abuzz with rumors and accounts of children getting snatched up by ICE officials while at school, families being torn apart, and other such horror stories. Employees at the Fastrip convenience store reported that ICE officials drove up and began harassing people outside the store for documentation. School officials reported an increase in parents calling the school concerned about coming out of their houses to pick up their children. The local health clinic reported many cancelled appointments, and local businesses, such as the Westside Market owned and operated by city councilmember Joseph Riofrio, also saw a decrease in activity.
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While very little could be ascertained in terms of statistics from talking with Mendota residents, what is certain is the climate of fear that ICE left in its wake. Councilmember Riofrio spoke to this point, relating that even legal residents and citizens had started carrying around their papers to prove their legal residency, just in case. “It’s not good; people are scared to come out of their houses.” Everyone in town seemed to agree that close to 200 people were deported, and while this number is difficult to verify, it has become the unofficial headcount in Mendota. [Full story]
Bye-bye, American consumer economy.
Taxes
Undocumented immigrants do, in fact, pay taxes. In fact, this year they paid in record numbers. [Source] While a common myth is that most illegal immigrants are poor and so their taxes would not actually help the economy, the reason that so many undocumented immigrants are poor is because they lack the protection of legality, so their employers can cheat them out of wages or refuse to pay overtime or benefits, and many with skills are forced into unskilled labor, day labor, or seasonal jobs because of their status. Legalizing the 12 million undocumented immigrants would give them bargaining power, and allow them to contribute more to the greater good while raising their own standard of living.
Frankly, with the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan still on the rise ($422,206,628,245 at the moment, according to HopeSpringsATurtle’s counter at Deep Confusion, and rising by the thousands every second), we need all of the tax dollars we can get. Hell, the IRS taxed my refund from last year (meaning I paid taxes on that money twice). Obviously they’re desperate. Why would the U.S. want to deport 12 million taxpayers and potential taxpayers?
Especially considering problems we will soon be having with …
Social Security
See, the government was supposed to be putting Social Security into a fund specifically for that, and not touching it. However, they’ve instead been using Social Security to fund other projects, expecting it to continue to rise. They were not expecting the Baby Boom to end. It has, despite the efforts of the Quiverfull movement to sustain it. Also unfortunately, Baby Boomers did not have enough children to support themselves in their later years, meaning that when they begin retiring next year, we will hear the death bell for Social Security, unless we get more workers from somewhere.
Even if every fertile adult started having children now, it would take at least 18 years to replenish the workforce, and we would all spend those 18 years choosing whether to support our parents or our children.
Social Security’s future problems are equally predictable, even if their exact timing is uncertain. As millions of baby boomers approach retirement, the program’s annual cash surplus will shrink and then disappear. Then, Social Security will not be able to pay full benefits from its payroll and other tax revenues. It will need to consume ever-growing amounts of general revenue dollars to meet its obligations–money that now pays for everything from environmental programs to highway construction to defense. Eventually, either benefits will have to be slashed or the rest of the government will have to shrink to accommodate Social Security.
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Back in 1950, as the baby boom was just getting started, each retiree’s benefit was divided among 16 workers. Taxes could be kept low. Today, that number has dropped to 3.3 workers per retiree, and by 2025, it will reach–and remain at–about two workers per retiree. Each married couple will have to pay, in addition to their own family’s expenses, Social Security retirement benefits for one retiree. In order to pay promised benefits, either taxes of some kind must rise or other government services must be cut. [Full story]
This is, of course, only true if the population inside U.S. borders stays static. It we were to replenish our workforce with a large number of people who are of age and willing to work and pay taxes, the crisis could be averted.
Which brings us full circle back to the workforce; not only are immigrants, legal and otherwise, needed to fill jobs that we simply don’t have the manpower for, they are also needed to pay Social Security that we simply don’t have the numbers to support.
So basically, we’re paying for a border fence, for Border Patrol, for ICE agents, and for all of the infrastructure to support all of these people and projects, our of our taxes. These people and projects are removing a massive number of people from our workforce and our consumer economy and tax base. Therefore, there are fewer of us to pay for these people and projects, and there will be fewer of us to pay for the U.S. government in general, thus raising the cost for us all. We’re paying for an organization whose sole purpose is to ensure that there are fewer of us to split the cost. Oh yeah, and we also all have to pay for the prisons that ICE holds immigrants in, for the court hearings where ICE decides whether or not to allow immigrants to stay, and the plane and train tickets to remove immigrants from our country.
Without the 12 million undocumented immigrants within our borders and less restrictive immigration policies in general, the U.S. economy is headed for a slow death simply due to a shrinking population, a growing number of retirees, and a government that has failed to curb spending as promised.
Economically, deporting undocumented immigrants is just plain stupid, and it’s hitting U.S.-born and documented immigrant citizens right in the pocketbook.
I thought that the Republicans were supposed to be the party of fiscal responsibility and lower taxes?
